


Pillow Talk

by Urdnot Wrecks (touchstone2015)



Category: The Technomancer (Video Game)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 04:57:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17053580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/touchstone2015/pseuds/Urdnot%20Wrecks
Summary: Dave and Boris have a very long lie-in, courtesy of the kids being away from Noctis.  And they talk about Jeff, amongst other things...





	Pillow Talk

“Gonna have to do something about that beard of yours, Sarge,” says Dave, hardly awake.

You must both have slept in for a long time: the sun’s risen well above the top of the palace in Noctis. You make a non-committal noise. 

“I see... and why is that?”

“Got stubble burn in a lot of tender areas this morning.”

“Poor baby. Do you want me to kiss each one of those nasty sore spots better?”

That would have earned you a playful slap in the past; now, Dave’s just content to chuckle. It’s taken him a long time to learn to do this, and it’s delightful.

“Tell you what, Sarge. You postpone that kissing to a time of my choosing. Do we have a deal?”

“We certainly do, love,” and, as you say it, you’re glad to feel Dave harden slightly against you. Something you can both look forward to.

“Got a story to tell you, but it’ll wait till I’m properly awake.”  


===

You can’t remember when you last had time like this to yourselves.  
Running the orphanage, looking after the kids you’re currently fostering, in addition to the two you’ve adopted; there’s an enormous amount to do.  
And you really do miss them when they’re gone.  
But they’ve been looking forward to the desert trip with the Dust for weeks.  
And you know they’ll be having a whale of a time, and that they’ll be as safe as when they’re with you.

And, for a change, it’s nice to be able to sleep in, rather than have Ellie burst in at three in the morning and wake you by bouncing on the bed.  
Good to sleep naked, rather than having to wear something in case you need to get up in the night to comfort a crying child.  
Wonderful to be able to jump your husband the minute he walks through the door after dropping off the kids.

===

The light’s changed; you must have dozed off again. Dave’s looking a bit more awake than last time.

“That story I was going to tell you, Sarge. Would have told you immediately I got in, but... you started being amorous, and I got distracted... and then I fell asleep.”

You grin, but put on your best Army sergeant stern voice. “Always stay focused, soldier! The enemy will take advantage of any lapse in concentration. Now get your fucking act together!”

Dave laughs. “Fuck off, Sarge. Or I’ll report you for taking sexual advantage of a subordinate.”

You chuckle at this. “Okay, you win, sweetie. So what’s the story?”

“When I was dropping the kids off with the Dust, guy came up to me that I first took to be a mutant, wearing virtually nothing; tattoos on his body were those of an Elder in the Dust.  
But then I realised he was wearing the remains of some Abundance uniform trousers. And while I was still trying to work that out, he said, “Long time no see, Dave”

“And I realised it was Jeff.

“Last I’d heard of Jeff was when Zach told me about the battle when he commandeered the rover; Zach said Jeff was the toughest human opponent he’d ever faced.  
He stopped Niesha putting a bullet in Jeff because he respected the way the guy’d fought.

“Anyway, Jeff figured that, having failed his mission, he’d be quietly put down so that news of the defeat didn’t get out.  
So he crawled out of the hangar to the edge of the desert, ‘to die somewhere peaceful’, as he put it.

“Some mutants were passing in a sandsail; they were running info and supplies to Phobos and the rebels.  
Jeff had taken cover in the sand like a Mutant; figuring that’s who he was, they stopped the craft and investigated.

“When they found out that Jeff was a human, and worse still a soldier, they were going to leave him to die.  
But one of them, a follower of Scum’s, insisted that they rescue him.

“Took Jeff a long time to recover from his injuries in Mutant Valley.  
But the folk there got to know him, and realised he had serious desert skills.  
So the Dust came to talk to him; and they recognised he was someone of their own kind, someone who loves the desert, sees it as their home.

“When Jeff was back to full health, the Dust made him an Elder.  
The initiation took six months... he wouldn’t tell me what it involved, but he came back from that lean, fit... and alive again.  
He now lives in the desert as a revered Elder; first human to be in the Dust, never mind an Elder.

“I just feel so ashamed: the number of times I ragged that guy about being a rookie, and he was a member of the top fucking elite unit in Abundance!  
Could have taken me out with his little finger if he wanted to.  
He has an ascetic life now; I asked him why he chose it, whether it suited him.  
All he said was, ‘It lets me forget’.  
War truly fucked the two of us over; I can’t begin to imagine what it did to Jeff.

“But the thing I found really astonishing is how good he is with the kids, and how much they love him.  
Back when I knew him, he’d put on this Greenhope rookie personality, talkative and bumbling and a complete pain in the arse.  
But when he turns that on for the kids, they just love him: he comes across as helpless and harmless and silly.  
So the kids feel safe around him, particularly those who’ve really suffered.

“Our conversation was cut short, because Ellie came over, and asked ‘goofy uncle Jeff’ to pick her up.  
So we couldn’t shake hands before he went away.  
Told him how sorry I was for the way I’d treated him, how much I respected him.  
He smiled warmly and said the orphanage was a great piece of work.  
We were never friends, and I guess we won’t be close.  
I just hope it goes well for him.”

===

The sun’s quite bright when you next stir, and you look over at Dave, asleep yet again. His left hand is on the blanket that covers you both, the wedding band glinting in the light.

What he said was true: he does have rather a lot of stubble burns.  
And you smile; last night is a good memory.

Dave turns and grunts, and suddenly hugs you in the rough, uncoordinated way a sleeper does.  
And he murmurs something. You can’t be certain of what he said, of course, but it sounded very much like, “Love you, Sarge”.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks, as ever, to the crew of the Technomancer Discord, for all their advice, ideas and support.


End file.
